HINTS FROM HELOISE

DEAR HELOISE: Since I live alone and don’t have to cook much, I eat a lot of frozen (healthy) meals. I save the plastic containers after I clean them and use them as various storage containers in my bathroom and home office. They are great for lipstick and makeup brushes, and they can be stored in drawers or cupboards and easily keep the counters and desktops clear.

—Caroline Reid, Bakersfield, California DEAR READERS: You might occasionally come across a recipe that calls for liquor. If you do not have any on hand, here are a few things you can substitute it for instead:

• Nonalcoholic beer or wine may be used in its place.

• For fruity dessert recipes, you can often substitute liquor with the juice of apples, oranges, pineapple and possibly lemon.

• You can also try adding a few drops of rum or brandy extract to water, to equal the amount needed in your recipe.

—Heloise DEAR HELOISE: In your column, I have read several “cures” for mice in the home. When we were building our home, my brother-in-law told me to get steel wool and, while using a screwdriver, to push it around all the pipes or any other kind of hole. We built our home in 1977 and have never seen a mouse.

—Pattie Shinn, Huntsville, Arkansas

DEAR HELOISE: We have a secret family password, so when the kidnapping scam happened to us, we asked the caller for the password. They immediately hung up after incorrectly guessing! Also, this is a good idea for children to use if they’re ever approached by an unknown person.

—Kay Krausman, via email

DEAR HELOISE: Like Jim R., from Houston, I also save the cold water that runs first in the shower as I wait for the warm water to arrive. I also use this water to flush the toilet.

—Richard Evans, in Houston

DEAR HELOISE: My husband and our three boys love to restore cars, so they usually come into the house with hands covered in dark grease and dirt. They would wash their hands with a heavy-duty cleaner, but it stripped all the natural oil from their skin and never really worked too well.

A friend of mine suggested using mayonnaise, and it worked even better than most other cleaners. It’s cheap and easy to use, and we always have a jar of it in the refrigerator.

P.S. I love reading your column in our local newspaper!

—D.C., in Las Vegas

SEND A MONEY-SAVING or timesaving hint to Heloise@ Heloise.com. I can’t answer your letter personally but will use the best hints received in my column.